Gone
by maryl
Summary: This was originally based off Paris spoilers, but since we've passed that it's a safe read. Chuck comes back from Europe with his new girlfriend and new personality. This is not Blair's Chuck Bass. Is it time to let him go? Not if Chuck can help it.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! Okay, this is based off a slight spoiler I read. So the spoiler said something like… Chuck shows up in Paris, a changed man, and with a new girlfriend. Because Gossip Girl messed with my head and my Chair love, I'm going to take that and give it my own spin. This won't be a long fic, two, maybe three chapters. If you read my other stuff... I'm trying to wrap my head around the next chapter of I Told You, but I'm still kind of traumatized over the finale. I'm hoping that clears up soon and I'll write the next chapter of that fic, as for this one, the next chapter could be up in a few days, because writing it makes me feel slightly better about our Chair. Here we go…

Blair watched them from across the ballroom, nursing her glass of Dom. It seemed to her like she was watching a bad joke of a teen movie, but since they were in month two of this film, it seemed like the joke was on her. She and Serena had been having a wonderful, fun and free summer in Paris. Both Lily and Nate had contacted them because Chuck had fallen off the face of the planet for the past few months, but Blair's only verbal response had been, "What else is new?" and then she'd put it from her mind, assuring herself and Serena that he was probably sleeping his way through Asia, and he'd turn up eventually.

Wrong. Chuck had shown up alright; in Paris. And the Mother Chucker had a story to tell. He'd been drunk and stumbled out of a club, only to be mugged, shot, and left to die in an ally. He'd been found the next morning, taken to hospital and spent the whole summer being nursed back to health. By Anna the super nurse. This same nurse who was now his girlfriend, the same nurse whom he now claimed to love.

Blair's hand tightened on the stem of her glass before finishing it, and taking another. That was the other thing, Chuck said his near death experience had opened his eyes, and he was now a changed man. At first hearing, Blair had scoffed, Chuck Bass didn't change his stripes, but the proof was in his actions. Over the past two months Chuck had gone to great lengths to right wrongs and repair much of the damage he'd done in the past, and it seemed to be working judging by the throng of friends and family who surrounded him now.

He said that Chuck seemed like a different person, and to everyone he was. Chuck did things for people without and ulterior motive. He went to every family function without having to be coerced. He actually gave money away. But more than that, he seemed lighter. He smiled and laughed easily. He didn't leer or make snide remarks. He seemed like an upstanding kind of guy, and people were flocking to him. At first Blair had been suspicious of this new Chuck, sure he was up to something, but she had come to terms with it when it went on this long. She had even attempted to seduce and manipulate him several times to prove that he was still himself, but she'd failed. She'd tried to drive the girlfriend away, but she'd failed. She'd tried every trick and move she could to get to see the real Chuck Bass, but it seemed, now, that this was the real Chuck Bass.

She hated him. She hated his girlfriend. She hated Dorota for pointing out that Blair only hated her because she was the only other girl Chuck had actually ever dated. She hated everyone for loving this Chuck. She hated Serena for once again talking her out of moving to France. She had spent a great deal of time hating everyone and everything involved in this born-again Chuck. And what she hated the most was her final realization as she looked at this familiar stranger from a distance.

She licked her bottom lip the way she only did when she hated all her options, and she handed off her empty glass to a passing waiter. Turning on her heel she walked out of the building, texted as she got into her limo, and with resolve headed for her destination.

She got the key from the front desk, took the elevator up, and walked to the door. She almost didn't open, she almost walked away, but instead she walked into suite 821 of the Palace. Her face crumbled for a moment as she looked around. This had been the first place that had just been theirs. Fresh, it held no other lovers memories. Blair hadn't slept with Nate in that bed, and Chuck hadn't… well Chuck hadn't done everything with everyone in Manhattan on every surface of this room. It had just been theirs that summer. Blair still thought of it as the happiest time of her whole life. She loved Chuck Bass, and he loved her back. It was only a little over a year ago, and yet it seem like forever ago.

The drapes were open and city light flooded into the suite. She didn't turn on the lights, but went to the bar, poured her self a drink and stood at the window to wait. She had long since finished her drink when she heard a key card slide the lock. She'd texted him she'd left one for him at the front desk, and she shut her eyes as the light from the hallway briefly lit the room, telling her he had used it. As he shut the door, the room went back into shadows. She still didn't move, listening to him as he did a quick sweep of the suite before finding her standing by the window near the bed.

"Blair?"

She finally turned towards him, and his breath caught as he saw the emotion in her eyes.

"Blair, I'm in a relationship… you of all people should know who I am when I'm in a relationship…"

The saddest smile in the world crossed her mouth at his words. She didn't know who he was anymore. This new Chuck was righteous. He should run away from what she had planned for them.

But tonight, even though all her other attempts had failed, he didn't leave. He didn't even back away from her, in fact he stood there, as she stepped closer to him. He didn't stop her when one of her hands grasped the collar of his jacket, and the other slipped behind his neck, before both pulled him to her in a hot, passion filled kiss. He didn't stop her when she stripped the clothes from their bodies, and to be honest he helped her. He didn't stop her when she pushed him back onto the bed, and he didn't stop her when they had sex in that bed for the next several hours.

Blair woke up very late in the night… or very early in the morning depending on how you looked at it. The first thing she felt was his breath on her face, but she didn't open her eyes, she let her body feel how intertwined they were. Arms and legs wrapped and tangled around each other, hands reached out even in sleep, and heads tucked close, it was as if every part of them craved being as near as possible to the other, and sleep was the only time they now allowed themselves to do it.

Finally she opened her eyes, and she stared at his perfect face so close to hers she couldn't miss a detail. It wasn't like she had to look; she had long since memorized every feature, every line, and every movement of every tiny muscle. She smiled, thinking how she'd had to in order to try to figure out what he was really thinking and when he was lying to her. She loved his face, and every part of him. Tonight she had needed to feel his hands on her, she had needed to touch him, and kiss him, and imagine that things were different. But they weren't, because while everything seemed familiar there were slight differences… his scent for one, was off. He still smelled of his same brand of cologne but now there wasn't the hint of scotch underneath it. This Chuck didn't drink. This Chuck's hands and face were ever so slightly rougher given that he didn't get manicures or shaves professionally. So even though there was so much the same, there was also so much that was different, and she'd known all along that that would be the case.

It had been nice to pretend.

Very carefully she extricated herself from his arms, and dressed while watching him sleep, making sure he didn't awaken. Finally, when there was nothing left to do, she came back to the bed and carefully perched on the edge beside him. She looked down at him, her eyes swimming with unshed tears, and smoothed his hair off his brow. Shaking her head, trying to clear it, she took a breath, moistened her lips and leaned in to very softly kiss his lips.

He had finally become a Prince Charming, but he wasn't hers, and she didn't even want him to be. She wanted her Dark Knight. She loved her Chuck Bass. But her Chuck Bass had died in an ally way in Prague. It was time to say goodbye.

TahDAH! Can I tell you when I read the girlfriend spoiler I wasn't surprised. I think Blair doesn't super care about randoms because that's just what they are. Random. I think an official girlfriend would KILL her, and that's why GG is giving him one.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone! Okay this was just going to be about a two chapter little fic, but then I got an idea and I'm running with it. I think it will end up being about five in total. The spoilers are done in this fic, I just used the girlfriend and the idea of a new Chuck Bass. As of now all the crap is just stuff I'm making up. I should be reading a really depressing book right now for my class, but… I wrote this… and I may even proof read it to continue the avoidance. Woo Hooo! Here we go…

Chuck woke to the scent of her. It was everywhere. On him, on the pillows and sheets around him, he was surrounded by it and it was perfection. Until he reached for her, and grasped only bedding long cold from her absence. Sitting up with a curse, he looked around needlessly. He knew she was gone. Angrily he got up from the bed, their bed. He started shoving his clothes on,

He'd known when she'd asked him to meet her here tonight, that this was it; this was the night he would use to get back in. It wasn't how he'd planned it, but he could tell she'd reached the point where she would forgive what had happened before just to be with him again. He had forced he to openly crave him again, not just sexually, but crave their whole relationship and connection again. He knew how lonely it could be when they were apart.

He had spent months on this plan. As he lay in a hospital bed willing his body to recover, he had come to face the one truth. She was the only thing that mattered in his life. Not other people, not his empire. Her. And he was getting her back at any cost. And so he had plotted. He had invested everything in it, even changing his behaviour to capture her full attention. He'd gotten it too. There had been a couple of occasions where she'd come to him, where he'd had to play it cool, play the reformed, but it nearly killed him every time he'd turned her away. However, he was playing for bigger stakes. He didn't just want Blair Waldorf back for the short term; he wanted her for a lifetime. So he continued to attempt to drive her mad with the new Chuck Bass. He dated a girl that bored him to tears, but one he knew would get under Blair's skin for just that reason. He'd even sickened himself by pulling off what appeared to be a most sincere apology to Humphrey. He was, in all things, a gentleman. All to get her back, and now she'd run? Not this time.

Getting to her penthouse, he bribed the doorman and headed straight upstairs. He knew that since Dorota had had the baby, she actually had more set hours now, and he wasn't surprised when no one greeted him in the entry hallway. He sprinted up the stairs and strode into her bedroom… only to find it not only empty of her personage, but with signs of many of her belongings being gone. What was there was an envelope of her stationary, propped against the pillow, his name written across the front in her perfect penmanship.

_I'm sorry for everything._

_You deserve much better._

_Don't come looking for me._

_Blair._

"She stole my line…" He mused before crumpling the paper and hurling it across the room.

Half a day later a very tired Blair finally arrived in Paris. Instead of dealing with any of her parents she headed strait for the Ritz, planning on locking herself away. If you had to figure out what to do with the rest of your empty life, you might as well hold up at the Ritz, Blair decided, ever one for the dramatic. Given the late hour, the suite was dimly lit, and the bed had already been turned down, but jet lag and the fact that Blair didn't think she'd sleep well for a while put that out of her mind. After the valet left she perched on a sofa to strip off her shoes, her dress quickly followed given that she'd just spent the day traveling in it. Clad only in her slip and stockings she padded over to the widows to gaze out. Paris was her second favourite city in the world. It seemed appropriate to be here what with losing her first choice in so many things.

The sound of ice clinking inside of a glass was her first clue that she was not alone. Startled she spun around… and there was an impeccably suit clad Chuck Bass, downing the remainder of his drink.

"What are you doing here?"

"Surprised, lover?" He moved in near menace across the room, and she backed away, putting a sofa between them, but he merely filled his empty glass. "Did you expect me to still be asleep in our bed? I must admit… you did wear me out… but not so much that I wouldn't wakeup with your absence…"

"How did you get here so fa—" Needlessly asking, but trying to buy herself time to figure out what was going on.

"It's amazing how much faster an unlimited bank account and a private plane make you in comparison to someone flying commercial… How were the peanuts, by the way?"

"You shouldn't have come. I told you not to." She said, becoming aware of how little she wore under his leering gaze.

She moved to the sofa picking her discarded dress up and turning her back on him to start to slip it over her head. She gasped as she felt his hands latch onto her forearms, pulling her back against him as she clutched the dress to her chest. He leaned in to whispered in her ear.

"I thought your performance last night ensured that I would come after you…"

She shut her eyes at the feel of his breath on her skin, bracing herself against the shivers it and being held so close to him, caused to run through her. She yanked at her arms, trying to get free, but he only released her long enough to slip his arms fully around her, and pin the to him. She sighed, resigned, and stopped struggling even though her body remained tense.

"That was goodbye." She told him, still trying to arch away from him.

"Goodbye? There's no such thing between us…" He hissed into her ear, squeezing her frame, making her moan.

"There is now." She said firmly, and she hoped he didn't hear the hint of desperation. "We're over. You're not the Chuck Bass I want."

"What's this?" He practically cackled in her ear. "The Queen doesn't want her Prince Charming?"

Blair scowled trying to ignore him and the feel of his hardening body against her. He shook her slightly, trying to get her to play, but she held her tongue, vowing not to let him drag her in.

"Didn't you like it? Seeing me as the hero? The fallen returning to grace? Didn't it make you want me for your own… and hate that I was with another…"

The arms that were wrapped around her held her wrists with strong manicured hands, who's thumbs now traced circles around her pulse beat, which was growing faster with each rotation.

"No." Blair bit out, and there was a long list of things she could have been refuting, but neither seemed to know which it was.

"Ahh… Anna…Did it bother you… seeing her with me… Seeing another woman capture my whole attention in a way only you ever have… hearing her tell you that I loved her… Did it keep you up at night? I don't know why I never thought of a version of her before…"

Suddenly Blair could clearly see the smokescreen that was Anna, and most likely the entire past two months.

"You manipulative freak." She told him, craning her head around to look at him.

This was all the access he needed, and his mouth swooped in on hers to kiss her passionately, making her moan under his assault.

"But this is the man you want." He chucked in victory, spinning her in his arms so they were face to face. "You want me, just as I've always been… because you love me, unchanged and in my natural state…"

"No…" She shook her head rapidly, struggling in earnest now. She needed to get away from this man who could hurt her like no other. This man that she loved like no other.

"It's too late, Waldorf. You've tipped your hand." He said and if possible held her closer. "You want me… just like this."

"I never said I wasn't completely insane myself…" Blair murmured, beginning to melt as her senses went into overload.

"Say it." He commanded, his hands working magic at they pulled her slip up.

"Say what?" Blair said breathlessly as she gave in and tried to capture his lips with her own.

"The truth. Three words, eight letters. Say it, and I'm yours." He whispered as he dodged her attempts to kiss him.

Almost against her will, Blair spoke desperately. "I love you."

The most beautiful, joyous smile came over his face. "I love you, too."

She frowned for a split second, hating that he had won. "I hate you."

He laughed, a real Chuck Bass laugh, just before he kissed her again. "You'll get over it. You always do…"

The next morning, warm sunlight filled the beautiful suite, and Blair woke up to Chuck biting and sucking on her earlobe. She thought she'd be completely wrung out after last night, but true to form, her Chuck could always get her blood going. Letting him have his way with her neck, her hands began to dance over his warm skin, loving the feel of it. He flinched slightly as her fingertips found the jagged edge of the scar from his gunshot wound, and she lifted her hands to his face to make him look at her.

"I was beginning to think you hadn't even been shot…" She teased.

"Oh, I was shot, Kitten…"

She looked at him, all teasing gone. "It would have killed me if you'd died. What were you thinking in that ally way?"

"Well… I should probably take some of the onus for what happened in the ally… If I had just given them what they wanted… I probably could have walked away."

"What?" She asked sharply, ready to kill him for taking unnecessary risks. "Whatever it was, you should have handed it over! You know everything is replaceable!"

He was leaning over her as she lay on her back, and he smiled down at her. "Not everything… and not this."

Reaching under his pillow where he'd tucked it just before waking her, he pulled out the leather ring box. Her eyes went wide at seeing the little box.

"This… this was special. It was the future… it was hope… and I couldn't lose it." He carefully opened the box, and took the engagement ring out. "It was so special to me, that I've had half of Europe looking under every rock to get it back… I am so sorry for the pain I've caused you. And I know I can't take it back, but I want to make it up to you, even if it takes me the rest of my life…"

As he had started talking to her, the words were so familiar, except this time, they weren't interrupted by Humphrey's fist.

"Blair, will you marry me?"

Blair was stunned, and the smile stayed on his face, letting his words sink in.

"What do you say, Waldorf? You and me, forever?" He asked again, taking her hand and kissing the back.

"Yes!" Blair finally said, taking the leap, because when it came to her Chuck Bass… she couldn't stop herself, and didn't want to either.

Not wanting to wait, wanting only to declare their forever, Chuck and Blair were married at her father's vineyard, pausing only long enough for Serena, Nate, Dorota, Lily and Eric to hop a flight to France to witness the two nineteen year olds, who already seemed etched in stone, pledge forever.

On the flight back to New York in Bass Industries private jet, they talked about the immediate future… the distant future didn't quite matter now that both were assured it would be a future together. Blair would finish her semester at Columbia, and then Chuck would give her the big, perfect, society wedding she had always dreamed of. A Christmas wedding. Then she'd take a semester off and they could honeymoon as long as they liked, which seemed to be the part Chuck was dreaming about.

Having left Manhattan so quickly, Chuck had a few things to clear off his schedule, the first being, as Blair instructed, was to show Anna the door, so he had dropped her off at her penthouse, and they made plans to meet back at the Empire that night.

Blair took a long bath, and spent extra time creaming and powdering herself to make sure her scent would intoxicate Chuck, and then she dressed, a little more seductive then usual, but they were newlyweds after all. She smiled to herself. She was married to her Chuck Bass. In her room as she packed several of her bags, she looked at the perfect rings on her fingers. His rings, claiming ownership, just as her ring on his finger claimed him as hers. She sighed happily, and with the packing done, she skipped out of her room to go downstairs and have the doorman come for her things.

Blair felt the hard shove from behind that sent her plummeting down the stairs. She felt her body smack off the steps. She felt her head crack off the banister. Then she felt no more. The world, for the new Mrs. Bass, went dark.

TahDAH! Okay, this was the setup chapter, leading into the new idea I got. Alright, and has anyone ever tried a workout DVD before? I had not. I feel like I don't want to humiliate myself in front of others by taking a class, so I'll just humiliate myself in private by doing a DVD workout. Who knew one of these things could kill you? I hurt SO bad, and I even cheated while doing the exercises! I


	3. Chapter 3

Hello! Okay, I don't remember if I've written this little observation before, but if I have and you've heard me say it… just smile and nod like you do whenever a crazy person tells you the same thing repeatedly… So… I have found the song that I think embodies Chair right now… and a lot of the other times as well. Alicia Keys' Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart. It sadly really does fit them from multiple angles. Here we go…

Getting home from his meetings and appointments, Chuck walked into his penthouse and called out to Blair, anxious to see her again. Hearing nothing he moved to the bar to pour himself a drink and getting one ready for her as well, with he expectation that she would arrive soon. When that was done and there was still no sign of her he picked up his phone and texted her.

_Mrs. Bass, your presence is requested immediately to address some vital intimate matters. – C_

While he waited for a response, he called his florist and ordered several arrangements of peonies to be delivered promptly, and then he called Blair. When she didn't answer, he tried to shake off the vague sense of unease, which was starting to build in his gut. He sent her another text.

_You don't need clothes. – C_

With still nothing he headed out of the Empire as if driven out, and was down in his limo in minutes. Again he called her, and again he heard nothing. Arriving at her home, his hand tapped his thigh restlessly, telling himself over and over that she was fine, just taking her time, and he was going to make her pay for keeping him waiting. As the elevator chimed open, he then strode out and into the foyer, and the sight in front of him would be seared into his memory for the rest of his life. Blair was sprawled like a forgotten rag doll at the foot of the stairs. Her body lay in near unnatural angles, her legs still on the stairs as her arms were cranked away from her twisted torso. Her hair spread out over the marble like an ink stain, and for a moment Chuck wanted to believe it wasn't her, but he knew that body too well.

"Blair!" He yelled, as if that alone would be enough to get her up and telling him she was fine.

He half ran to her motionless body, but before he could touch her Humphrey came out of nowhere, stopping him, holding him back.

"Get off me!" Chuck roared, shoving at Dan's chest.

"She hasn't moved since I found her, and if you touch her it could make it worse!"

Breathing heavily, Chuck stopped fighting Dan. "Alright!"

"I just called 911. They're on their way." Dan said urgently, as he followed Chuck to where he now knelt by Blair's side. "I checked her pulse, and she's breathing… so there's that."

Chuck didn't say anything, but with a shaking hand he very carefully moved the cloud of dark hair that covered her face. She was so still. Chuck was the opposite. He shook from head to toe, trying to gain control of the rage, but mostly fear that gripped him.

"She must have tripped…" Dan said, needing, as always, to talk, especially in tense situation. "Her heels? The marble could have been slippery?"

"She didn't trip." Chuck bit out.

"I don't know, man… Look at those shoes…"

"She's never tripped in heels in her life. She's never tripped, period."

"Then what…"

Chuck spared Dan one pointed glance, before focusing back on Blair. The rest happened like a blur. The paramedics arrived, moving Blair like glass as they stabilized her frame to a backboard. Chuck sat at her side on the ride to the hospital, and the only thing he said to the driver was to name the best hospital in the city, and as they drove there he stared at her still, wanting to touch her, but petrified he'd hurt her or make it worse. He followed them as they wheeled her into the hospital, and he followed them as they took her down corridors. He followed her until they had to physically stop him from going into the operating room.

Chuck sat in the waiting room, not moving or talking, as people filed in to wait. Serena cried on whatever shoulder was nearest or available, and if Chuck had been more present he would have noted with disgust the way both Humphrey and Nate still jockeyed for that place. Dorota ran in and tried to speak to him, but it was as if his body was vacant, so she touched his hair like she had done when he was a child over for a play date, and then sat next to Vanya and clutched his hand. Eric and Lily came in and sat on either side of him, neither spoke, but Lily would reach over a squeeze his hand periodically.

Live. It was the one word that kept echoing through his mind. Live. She had to live.

He was about to buy the hospital and tare it apart to find out how she was, when her doctor finally came out.

"Blair Waldorf's family?" He asked to the room.

"Bass." Chuck corrected, finally talking. "I'm her husband."

The doctor raised a brow slightly at this, knowing his patient was only nineteen, and this boy claiming to be her husband, while somehow seeming endlessly mature, couldn't be much older than that. Who knew Manhattan was the new North Carolina? Not commenting on it, he began to talk to Mr. Bass about his wife's serious condition. Chuck listened to the seemingly endless list of injuries she'd sustained, flinching at some, but committing them to memory before finally cutting the doctor off.

"But she's going to live?" He pressed.

The doctor nodded. "She's stabilized, and is in the ICU, but she should wake up when the anesthesia wears off."

"I want to see her."

Chuck was finally led to a room that was barren of all beauty, but her. The machines beeped and the grey blandness of the room seemed to fade away as he moved towards her on weakened legs. Pulling a chair as close to the bed as possible, then collapsed onto it, and was practically kneeling at her side. He felt the doctor's presence behind him, but didn't turn around.

"Can I touch her?" He asked.

When told he could, he touched her face, her hair, gently caressed her neck, and he stroked down her arms. Over and over again he touched her warm skin, and listened to her soft breaths, as if to assure him that she was alive. Finally he sat back in the chair, her hand tightly held in his, and locked his eyes on her face to wait for her to wake up. He felt her small hand held in his, and thought about how he had once told her that was not for them, that holding hands would be nearly ridiculous for a pair such as them. The joke was on him, he thought, squeezing her hand. After they'd finally gotten together, holding her hand had become something he not only loved, but also seemed to crave. Sometimes it was as they were walking and he'd hold out his hand on instinct and she'd smile, taking it. Sometimes it was waking to find her fingers intertwined with his own, and he loved kissing the tip of each one to wake her up. But mostly it was a need to connect, and he'd found himself taking her hand at any opportunity, be it during the opera, riding in his limo, or even just sitting at a table together. He loved her hand in his, squeezing it and feeling her squeeze back. He squeezed her hand now, wanting nothing more than to feel her copy the action. Feeling nothing, he turned her hand in his to kiss the pulse in her wrist, and then settled back to wait.

In the next few hours Chuck moved about as much as Blair, which was not at all. There was however, a great deal going on around them. Dorota had Blair moved to a private room with a view of the skyline. She was at first refused permission to truck in a florist full of peonies, but she pulled rank, and in came the flowers. She had Blair's own sleepwear brought in and linens from Bergdorf's. She wanted it to be as beautiful as possible for when Ms. Blair woke up. She needed it to be as beautiful as possible.

In was nearly afternoon the following day when Blair's eyelids finally flickered. It was a sign Chuck had been waiting for, and he moved to perch at the side of her bed.

"Blair." He said, taking her face in his hands.

Struggling, her eyes finally opened to look up at him.

"Chuck." She croaked, her voice strained with lack of use, but her hands came up to squeeze his wrists. She frowned noticing something. "Where are my rings? You can't take it back."

She looked so disgruntled… and alive, that he laughed with relief as he kissed her cheeks and lips, and Blair couldn't help but notice the sheen of tears in his eyes. She was about to tease him about Chuck Bass going soft, when she shifted in the bed. It felt odd. Something wasn't right.

"Chuck…" She murmured, growing alarmed as she tried to shift in the bed. "Something's wrong…"

"SHHH!" Chuck tried to sooth, rubbing her arms to try to calm her as she started to struggle in the bed. "It's going to be alright!"

"Chuck… I can't move my legs!" Blair began to panic, her voice growing frantic in pitch. "Why can't I feel my legs?"

"Blair—"

He broke off as she started to lose her breath, finding it harder and harder to take in air. Alarms started going off, hospital staff rushed into the room, and pushed Chuck out.

"BLAIR!"

TahDah! Okay, I know it's short… even for me this was kind of short. BUT it was the natural break, and if I had kept going it would have been CRAZY long, and those of you who read my stuff regularly know I get lazy. Kindly remember, I'm too cute to stay mad at. The good news is that I have the next chapter laid out in my head, so I may have it up in a few days. Shocker, I know. Now, as to the pusher… I'm saying Chuck is just focused on Blair right now. He'll deal with the perpetrator later.

PS-I tweaked it a little. It's not THAT short.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello! Okay, I think this might be the least popular chaptered fic I've ever written, but guess what? I WILL beat a dead horse, as my grandfather used to say. So, even in I'm just writing this for me and the three other people that like it… I'm finishing it. I don't like loose ends. Here we go…

Blair lay in the bed, half listening to Chuck, Dorota and her parents talk to the neurology specialist and the half a dozen other specialists Chuck had flown in, but mostly she just stared out the window. She heard words like "trauma" and "paralysis", and she heard the doctors mention how there were some surgeons in Europe who were doing some promising work. Blair would bet her inheritance that those surgeons would be soon getting a massive influx of cash to their research. Mostly Blair just heard more blah, blah, blah of what she'd been hearing for the past two days, which was what Chuck had been hearing even before she woke up. Her back had sustained a great deal of trauma, and while there weren't complete breaks there were fractures and sections of her lower spine that had been impacted. The doctors' felt that they wouldn't be able to give a full diagnosis of her permanent condition until the swelling went down and see what her body did in its natural healing process. When pressed they gave the estimate of a 25% chance for a full recovery. Blair hated those odds, and while she didn't tell anyone, she started planning for the worst-case scenario… and at the top of her list of new conflicts was Chuck. For a second, her eyes welled, but she blinked them back as she heard Chuck saying her name.

"Blair…" Then tenderness in his voice nearly broke her heart.

Taking a breath she turned to look at him, and he smiled down at her, and she tried to smile back. She noticed it was just the two of them in the room now, and he sat on the edge of her bed, running his hands down her arms. She was struck, not for the first time, by how much she loved him. He was all she'd ever really wanted.

Touching his rough jaw, she chided him. "You need a shave… and a shower."

"They have a place here…"

She rolled her eyes. "You haven't left here in days, you're starting to smell as bad as you did that summer you spent with the troop of vegan interpretive dancers, and you haven't shaved your own chin since you were fourteen."

They both smiled at the memory. Chuck had teased her when he had spotted several nicks on her legs, the fall out of her own attempts at shaving before later embracing the painful sting of waxing. She'd raised a brow at him and told him if he thought it was so easy, why didn't he try it?

"You nearly bled to death."

"And think how guilty you would have felt since it was you who dared me to do it…"

It was a brief lighter moment, and Blair shut her eyes, casting her chin down so he wouldn't see the sadness of the present enter them.

"Blair…" He whispered, cupping her chin to lift it.

She shook her head, and once again managed to smile up at him. She spoke softly to assure him. "Go home. Shower. Shave."

Sighing, but caving to her wishes, he kissed her and headed back to the Empire to quickly shower, order a shave and deal with some other business. With that taken care of he made one more stop before heading back to the hospital. He had been barely gone two hours when he arrived back on her floor. She had a guest. He grew uneasy even from that distance, seeing the way Cyrus tried to argue with her and the determined glint in her eyes. He'd seen that look. That look was not good.

Walking in, Cyrus seemed to fluster, shook Chuck's hand and made a hasty exit. Chuck watched him go oddly, but shrugged it off because of the even tenser energy coming from his wife. Ignoring it he moved towards her, he leaned in to kiss her lips, and she turned her head, offering him only her cheek instead. He hesitated for a moment, wanting to catch her jaw, and force her to accept his lips on hers, but instead he acquiesced and chastely kissed her cheek. He sat in the chair next to her bed and leaned back in it to watch her. This ought to be good.

"Chuck…" She folded her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. He noticed that her returned rings were once again missing from her slender finger. "Chuck… I've been thinking… all things considered… it would be best if we end things now. I've spoken to Cyrus, and while a divorce is of course possible, it might be easier to get an annulment."

"What?" He asked forcefully, telling himself he had to have heard her wrong.

She kept her gaze focused on her hands, as she reiterated carefully. "I think it would be best if we ended this."

"Best for who? Not me… so you must be talking about yourself…"

"No!" She said ardently. "It's what's best for both of us."

"What's best for both of us is to be together. Forever. It was kind of the idea behind us getting married in the first place, Mrs. Bass." He hissed.

"That was before." She shook her head, trying not to let her composure slip. "Chuck, I could never be enough for you now..."

"You're everything." He vowed intensely.

"Not anymore. Chuck…" She said with a heartbreaking smile that was at odds with the absolute pain in her eyes. "You like… gymnasts, ballet dancers… contortionists… I can't even wiggle my toes.

"Sex?" He bit out, confused, but realizing he was finally getting to the crux of her argument. "This is about sex?"

She nodded, unable to look at him. For nearly as long as Blair could remember Chuck Bass and sex and be inextricably linked. When he was single he regularly partook in endless sexual activities with multiple and wide ranging partners. Blair had always taken heart in the fact that their pull, adventurousness, and desire for each other had seen to it that their sex life had always been more than enough for the both of them.

"Blair… the doctor said there's no reason we can't—"

"I know what he said." She cut him off, not wanting him to repeat the tactful conversation he'd had with them about how once her back healed some more, there was no reason they couldn't engage in sex, and there would just be slight adjustments and different methods involved. "But it wouldn't be the same."

Her greatest fear right now, running right along with never walking again, was to see them trapped in this marriage, and for him to find her lacking and unable to make him happy in every way. She couldn't bare it.

"You're being ridiculous." He snapped, angry at her for thinking she wasn't everything he could ever want or need. "You and me, forever. Remember, that? Everything else… we'll figure it out."

She once again tried to smile at him, to even laugh to make light of his argument, and how he was the one being silly to fight her. It was killing her to end this, but she would make promises and rationalize to get him to see that she was right. She truly believed she could never fully satisfy him now.

"I'm not saying that we can't be in each others lives… I'll always be your family." She argued, licking her bottom lip quickly and then pulling herself together to look at him. "Just not as your wife. We can go back to how it was before… when we were just friends… Like before I danced for you. Before Victrola."

"We were never just friends. The summer we were twelve you wore a white bikini to Nate's grandfather's pool party. I jacked off to the image of you getting out of the pool for the next year, and I only then replaced that images with the time I could tell you were wearing your first bra, which was followed by every other image of you that has always driven me to see you as more than just a friend. We were always going to happen, and if it hadn't been for Nate, we would have just happened sooner." He bit out that truth to her.

"No…" She shook her head in denial, but she knew it was true, knowing that since puberty there had always been a charge between them.

He loomed over her and clasped her shoulders, shaking her once.

"Chuck." She said haughtily, not hurt by his action, but wanting to put him in his place. "Let's not damage the half of me that can feel it."

He could see the wall she was putting up, and he shook her again. "Resign yourself to the fact that you're stuck with me. Permanently. We are inevitable."

She scowled up at him, trying to shove him away, but he just held her tighter.

"I'm ending this marriage!" She half yelled at him. "You can't make me stay with you!"

He looked pointedly down at her legs, and leered in victory. "What are you going to do? Run away?"

Her hand slapped hard across his face, and she gasped pulling back as he tightly grasped her wrists. "Yes! That's it! Get angry! Fight!"

His lips crashed down on hers, forcing them open to his intimate kiss. Forcing her to feel the desire he had for her that was equal to no other. She was struggling against his hold and his kiss when they were interrupted.

"Is everything alright in here?" A nurse asked tentatively from the doorway. "I was just here to give Ms. Waldorf her sleeping pill…"

"Mrs. Bass." Chuck corrected, standing up and away from Blair as he straightened his disheveled clothes. "And you're just in time. I think Mrs. Bass needs a good night's rest to get her priorities in order."

As the nurse came forward with the pill and a cup of water, Chuck swiftly leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Isn't that right, lover?"

She shivered as the heat from his words and the emphasis he'd placed on the last one. He was staking a claim. Shoving him away, she turned to smile at the nurse as if she didn't want to kill her want-to-be husband, and took the pill. Once alone again, Chuck sprawled in the reclining chair he'd slept in for days, they resumed scowling at each other as they waited for Blair's pill to take affect.

Her eyes were growing heavy when she saw him quickly get up and open the drawer beside the bed. He riffled through it until he easily found the rings she had tucked away in there. She was so sleepy that she couldn't protest, let alone stop him as he shoved her rings back onto her finger, and then lay back down with a self-satisfied grin.

"Ass." She murmured a breath before she fell asleep.

Over the next few days, they didn't talk about their argument, and in fact, until they were preparing to release her, he had thought that he had won. He should have known better.

He was just about to have her things collected and taken down to his limo when two very large blonde men appeared at the door. At her nod, one of them pulled it closed leaving Blair and Chuck alone in her hospital room.

"Chuck… we need to talk."

She couldn't meet the betrayal she saw in his eyes, and she looked at a point on the wall. Clearing her throat she continued. "Those men are here with a car to take me to Mother's country house, that has been prepared for my arrival. I'll be staying there to convalesce … Alone. And no, you can't bribe them. They're Vanya's cousins, and petrified of Dorota."

"Blair… you don't want to do this…" He said feeling boxed into a corner with no way out, and grew desperate at the idea of her slipping away from him again.

"You're right, I don't want to do this… I love you… so much… but if this marriage is going to continue… there's only one way that can happen." She told him almost brokenly, but still with determination.

"You clearly have some ideas… do go on." He bit out, trying not to imagine strangling her to death.

As she lay out her plan to him, Chuck got whiter and whiter. She had left him with no choice. If he wanted to have her, to keep her as his wife… Chuck Bass was to be forced into infidelity.

TahDah! There we go. I'm kind of proud of myself. I don't normally update this fast, but this story is banging around in my head and it's the one that I feel most like writing. For the people who read some of my other stuff, I plan an UD for IToldYou soon, and for the MOTH fans that also love Chair, I will be putting out one of those soon. I have a paper due on Tuesday and a final exam on Thursday… two things that always make me procrastinate by UD fics. FYI, I get proud of myself when I spell words right on the first try, and don't require the help of spell check. I had no idea I could spell "inextricably". Yea, me.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello! Okay, I haven't done a disclaimer, because I thought many/most of you would know that, I don't work for or have anything to do with the writing and/or production of Gossip Girl. I don't think what I'm about to say applies to everyone, but to the couple… or one, person who seems to think I should study every word I write so as to maintain total authenticity, I say… dude, relax! I love Chair. I love Blair Waldorf. I adore the Mother Chucker. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, I'm just having some fun writing Chair fanfics, and I put them out there because I hope you'll like reading them as much as I like writing them. Okay, okay, maybe I also write them to avoid writing assignments that actually work towards my future, but hey… I pay my own tuition. I'm only hurting myself! … And maybe to the disappointment of my family and friends who support me. If you don't tell them, I won't either. Here we go…

The fight in the hospital simmered with a cold intent as the couple faced off against each other, and the terms of Chuck's surrender were negotiated. Blair felt that without a proper outlet for his sexuality, Chuck would be miserable. He cut her off, once again insisting he would never cheat on her, and she said that was her point exactly. He wouldn't cheat, they'd both get frustrated, and it would ruin everything that was wonderful between them. Her idea was to create a form of pressure release for him that would preserve their bond. He told her he was going to have her re-checked for head injury. Then he told her she could go to hell before he screwed another woman while committed to her.

"Chuck!" She bit out. "This isn't that different than what's happened before! You threw Dorota a wedding for me, and when that didn't work out the way you planned you went home with an anorexic European sex traffic escapee. When I was late to meet you at the Empire State Building, you went from An Affair to Remember to Debbie Does Manhattan with that scab in less that an hour."

"That was just sex!" He dismissed, knowing whom she was talking about, and knowing she didn't want either of them to say her name.

"Exactly!" They both hated that they heard the catch in her voice. "Just sex! We both know you're quick to turn to other women when we have issues… _this_ is an issue. But this time… I'm heading it off at the pass. We'll both know and understand. It will work."

A muscle in Chuck's jaw twitched as the seethed at her, and realized that right now, every moment of his exalted sexual history was working against him. Chuck oozed sex; he had since he'd started to develop secondary sex characteristics. But all he wanted now was his wife. His crazy, manic, pain in the ass wife.

"Blair, I don't want anyone else." He said every word slowly, and like it was a hammer against her.

"Maybe." She looked at him honestly, thinking she knew him better than he knew himself. "But you'll need someone else. I can't… I might never be able to…"

She looked away from him and out the window, not wanting to think about the limitations she believed of her body. "Please do this for me, Chuck."

"Blair…"

"Please." She said it again, and he knew she'd follow through with her threat. The woman that sough perfection, didn't see it in herself anymore, and couldn't understand how he still did.

Chuck knew that with all their issues sex had never been one of them. She turned him on more than every other woman he'd ever met, and she could more than keep up with him, each open to variety and exploration. But now, in the face of her perceiving to have lost that part of herself, he knew she felt less than perfect in his and her own eyes. It really did make him want to strangle her, but instead he nodded in acceptance, but by no means was he defeated.

They sat in the limo on either ends of the backseat, about as far away from each other as possible. They each stared out their respective windows. After finally getting him to agree, Blair had suggested an every other night schedule. He asked her if it hurt to have her own head up her ass. Eventually they'd gotten to a two night a week agreement, that being Tuesdays and Thursdays, where Chuck would spend the evening with her, stay with her till she fell asleep, and then go out, but be back before she woke up. Chuck hadn't spoken to her since.

"You know, never talking to me again seems rather childish…" She commented dryly.

"And what you're making me do seems rather insane." He countered with a sneer. "I'd have you committed if I didn't think you'd have Dorota kill me in my sleep for doing it."

"It will…" She searched for the words she tried to spin it. "It will just be like a part of our marriage we don't talk about."

He got the hint. From this point on his forced adultery was going underground.

Blair raised a brow as she realized they were not headed to the Empire, and she questioned him suspiciously. "Are you having me committed?"

Chuck found his first near smile at her tone. "Still tempted… but not yet. I thought the man-cave—

"You mean whore-house?" Blair smiled coolly at him.

"Might not be the place for us to start our marriage."

"Really? Whatever makes you think I don't approve of a pool table being a focal point of home décor?" She teased. "But there is something I've always been meaning to ask. Where exactly were you intending to ride a motorcycle in your Manhattan penthouse? Do you and Nate take turns just sitting on it? Does one of you aim a fan?"

"Out of your system? Anything else?"

She nodded. "The Girl Scout goes."

Arriving at their new building, a staff was waiting for them on the sidewalk, one of them assisting Blair out of the limo and into her new high-end wheelchair. It had the look of an antique, but the engine power of a Viper. She had already taken to terrorizing everyone in the hospital with it as she learned how to use it, Chuck could only imagine the damage she'd do when she mastered it. He cringed thinking that as he came around the car. He didn't want her to have time to master it.

She looked around the lobby as he led them to their private elevator. They rode, just the two of them, up to their new penthouse. Light poured in. It was beautiful, but still fairly empty, given that he knew she'd want a hand in the design. He started to tell her the whole place was wheelchair accessible, but she waved him away, not wanting to talk about it.

When they got to the bedroom Blair's eyes narrowed on her second least favourite blonde, and then she icily looked at her husband.

"But isn't Gigi like a member of the family at this point…" Chuck said slyly.

She hit the throttle and lurched towards him with malicious intent.

"Fine! I'll give her to Nathanial."

They'd come home on a Friday, and spent the time settling in. Some how poor Gigi ended up getting run over. Repeatedly. They talked about school, and Chuck insisted the semester was not lost to her. Her teachers had agreed to see her privately to makeup for her absences, and forward her assignments. Chuck had felt it time to take a proper office, and had taken a place only a few blocks away. At night Blair would let him kiss her till they were both breathless, and then ease away from him, only to have him follow her, and they'd fall asleep in each other's arms.

On Monday, after having escorted a reluctant Blair to her physiotherapy appointment, Chuck sat at his new desk as a frazzled Dan Humphrey stumbled into his office.

"Chuck." Dan said in greeting. "I don't usually respond to royal decree, but you wanted to see me?"

"Humphrey." Chuck said with a nod as he watched the other man sit in a chair. "Now that things have settled down… I have a few questions for you… Like what the hell you were doing at my wife's home that night?"

The edge to Chuck's voice sent chills down Dan's back.

"What was I doing there? What? You don't think I had something to do with Blair's accident? … Which is what the police ruled it was as well. An accident."

"I think you should answer the question." Chuck bit out.

"Fine! Okay… so Jenny is coming home, and I wanted to talk to Blair, and make sure she wasn't going to unleash any of her maniacal plots on my innocent little sister."

Chuck snorted at the idea of Jenny being innocent, that girl had a twisted edge to her even when she had a hymen. However, Chuck could believe Dan coming to see Blair to beseech her case, and besides, Dan wasn't very high on his list of suspects. He didn't have what it took. Namely that being guts.

Chuck asked leaning forward. "Did you see anyone or anything?"

Dan shook his head. "I got there a couple of minutes before you did and found her at the bottom of the stairs." Dan noticed Chuck whiten and he changed the subject. "Chuck, I know Blair has her own list of enemies, but did you ever think the assailant comes off of your own list? What better way to hurt you than through her… hasn't it been done before?"

Chuck clenched his jaw, dismissing Dan with a wave, but once he was alone went over his already calculated list. Finding out who hurt Blair was not going to be easy.

Tuesday dawned like a dark cloud, and it followed them through the day. They neatly avoided each other for most of it, before sitting down for a late silent dinner. Blair excused herself, leaving Chuck to drink, while a nurse helped her prepare for bed. She never allowed Chuck to be present for this, and so when he came in later she was settled into their bed, facing him and lying on her side. He turned off the lights, and lay down next to her, taking note of the bottle of sleeping pills and glass of water on her nightstand. Rolling onto his side, he looked at her, willing her to call this off, but she just linked her fingers through his, and closed her eyes to sleep. When her breathing deepened, Chuck got out of bed like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and quietly left their apartment.

When he was gone Blair's eyes flickered open. And she told herself this was for the best. This would save them. It was just sex, and it didn't matter. She choked on the sob in her throat.

Hours later Chuck came home. He opened their bedroom door, and seeing her now sleeping with her back to the room, he went to the bathroom to strip and shower. Fresh and clad in his silk pajamas he climbed in behind her, his arm slipping around her waist to squeeze her close. Her hand slid over his and she slipped her fingers between his. The deal was done, and neither one of them knew what was going to happen next, but they took comfort in the fact that they were all that mattered.

TahDAH! I now have to go and clean my apartment before my mom gets here tomorrow. Not SUPER clean it because she knows me, but just enough that I don't get the Mom Look. Plus I'd rather get Mom Spoiled. Free dinner. Free movie. Usually a trip to the store for free groceries. LOVE Mom Spoiled.

Okay, and since this story comes out of that one spoiler, can we talk about the casting of the girlfriend? You knew she'd be blonde. I seriously hope she can act. So few can adequately go up against The Waldorf, and it's only made worse when they suck.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello! If Maryam is reading this, she is to stop because she is banned from my fics until I say so, because she has forsaken them for soccer and parties. Shameful, I tell you, just shameful. I hope that Milan team eats the grass. I have no idea if that's insulting, but it's meant to be. To the lovely loyal readers, THANK YOU! The only problem with this dig at my good friend Maryam, is that she probably won't even see it for like a week. What a waste. Here we go…

Chuck sat at his desk, deep in his chair, his fingers spread against his temple being the only thing that kept him upright. He stared pensively at the wedding photo on his desk, and was only brought out of his thoughts by his assistant tapping at the door.

"Mr. Bass, Doug Lewis is here."

"Send him in…"

"Lewis." Chuck greeted quickly before getting right to the point. "I trust you have news."

"Yes, Mr. Bass, but it might not be what you hoped. His alibi is airtight. Your uncle was at a benefit in Sydney the night of your wife's inju— attack." He quickly amended at his employer's sharp look. "There are photographs from several news agencies as well as witnesses who place him there. I've also had my people check all the flight records of anything going out for they days before, commercial and private, and there is no record of Jack Bass being on any of them. And according to his bank accounts there haven't been any significant withdrawals in weeks."

Chuck nodded and dismissed his chief investigator. While Jack's name had been the first to come to Chuck's mind, it hadn't seemed like his style. Sure, he could have easily hired someone to attack Blair, but Jack was more about the mental pain than the physical. Even so, Chuck had felt the need to rule the older man out.

Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose trying to relieve the tension, but it was useless against the many stressors that were running his life right now. Blocking out the current dead-end situation of Blair's attacker, Chuck's thoughts went back to his wife herself.

In the short weeks since she came home from the hospital, he hadn't noticed it at first, but after a while it became clear. Blair was hiding. Recently Chuck had made appointments at some of her favourite boutiques to look at furnishings and décor, but Blair seemed reluctant, telling him they could just look through the catalogs. Chuck made reservations, but Blair cancelled them or had the food sent to their home. And while she had been cleared to return to classes, she insisted on continuing to be tutored from home, making the excuse that she preferred the one on one attention.

He knew she was building their apartment into her own personal set, where she would stay hidden away, and it was starting to piss him off. She had nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about… he just had to find away to shock her back into life. It turned out someone else ended up doing it for him.

That night Chuck slouched on the sofa, reading the paper and listening to his wife browbeat the workers who had been hired to hang the window treatments and position the furniture.

"I'm sorry, but is the concept of a straight line really that difficult?"

Blair was just about to really lay into them when the elevator chimed and a disheveled Jenny Humphrey marched into the apartment.

"How could you?" She demanded.

With a wave of her hand the workman gratefully took off, and sitting up a little straighter, Blair spun her chair to face the blonde.

"How could I what? And I could have sworn this was Manhattan… but maybe I blanked out, because you should know better than to be here."

Chuck hadn't moved a muscle, but his eyes were locked on the situation.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Jenny yelled, nearly frantic. "My admission to Constance has been revoked. None of my school friends with talk to me. I can't get a table anywhere in the city. And I was informed that I wasn't accepted into Parsons or the Fashion Institute of Technology!"

"Come now, Little J… you have to admit your academic record is rather tarnished to expect early admittance into schools of that caliber…"

"I HADN'T EVEN APPLIED YET!" Jenny burst out her tears sending tacky streams of black eyeliner down her cheeks.

Blair shook her head as if sympathizing, and yet looked at Jenny with knowing doe eyes. "Well maybe it's for the best then. This way you don't get your hopes up."

"Blair, please… hasn't there been enough water under the bridge? Can't you just let it go…"

"I'm sorry? Did you think I kept my compassion in my legs?" Blair's eyes sharpened on the whimpering mess of a target. "When I tell you to get off my island, what do you think that means? Oh, and just so you know, I accomplished all of that before I was married… what do you think I could do to you now that I have the Bass name after mine? You've got legs. I suggest you use them. Run, Little J. Run."

Jenny looked to Chuck for a brief instant, as if seeking some sort of intervention from him, and Blair's knuckles tightened on the arms of her chair as she waited, but Chuck said nothing, making it clear where his loyalties lied. Not waiting to order her out again, Blair accelerated her chair towards Jenny, turning at the last second and running over the other girl's toes. Jenny hobbled out as fast as she was able, and Blair kept going until she was safely in her room. She sat by the window, staring out, as Chuck slowly came up behind her. He leaned a shoulder against the windowsill, and careful took not of every detail of his wife. He noticed the flush to her cheeks, the increase in her breath… he could feel the dimmed spark inside of her grow.

"Can you cancel my tutors for tomorrow? I'm going to go to class." Her eyes went to his sharply.

Chuck nodded and Blair returned the action. She knew that she was a million times the person that Jenny Humphrey was or could ever be, and Blair had no reason to hide away from life. Life still had to watch out for Blair Waldorf.

That night as she lay in his arms, her head pillowed against his chest, they both hated that it was a Tuesday. Her small hand played with the buttons of his pajamas, and she fretted, hating what she was feeling so much that it became impossible for her to even attempt feigning sleep. Chuck laid still his hand stroking her hair and keeping his breathing even in hopes it would settle her. She wasn't going to settle until she got this out.

"Chuck…" She began, her head tucked low, hiding her face from his view.

"Hmm?"

"Just… Just not Jenny…" It killed Blair to ask this of him, but she had to.

Chuck's hand stilled for the briefest of moments before continuing his caress of her hair. He wanted to kill her for even thinking he'd turn to Jenny, but he knew he'd lost any credibility in that area back in the spring. Out of all the women Chuck had ever slept with, some of them highly questionable, Jenny was his true regret, because he knew his use of her, more than any other, had wounded Blair the most.

"Not Jenny." He promised, kissing the top of Blair's head.

Days later Blair was in her specialists office, Dorota by her side as she listened to him drone on and on about her progress. Blair didn't see how her still being confined to a wheelchair could be construed as progress, but the doctor's next pronouncement caught her full attention.

"Given how well your back has been healing… I see no reason why you and Mr. Bass couldn't… resume marital relations… within reason of course."

Blair had frozen as she processed what he was saying. This could not be happening, and she was suddenly glad that Chuck had had an un-changeable meeting with an international client. It was bad enough that Dorota was now looking at her with a grin on her face; she'd hate to have seen the look on Chuck's.

"This good news, Ms. Blair!" Dorota gushed after the doctor had left, wiggling her eyebrows. "Maybe we stop by Agent Provocateur on way home…"

"Dorota, get your mind out of the gutter!" Blair snapped, dismissing the idea. "We are not whoring me up for Chuck!"

"You're right. I don't think Mr. Chuck will need much encouragement…" Dorota mused, rocking her shoulders.

Blair held her tongue, knowing that Chuck's state of arousal was not nearly what Dorota would expect, what with his needs being attended to elsewhere two nights a week. Her mind started speeding up, and she knew this new turn of events would stir things she'd rather left buried up between she and Chuck. So far he hadn't pressed her for sex, and she told herself that it was because he didn't want to hurt her, but the ugly voice that sometimes won in her head whispered that what if he knew and he still didn't want to touch her that way, or what if they tried and it was worse than not having tried at all?

"Dorota, we will say nothing of this to Chuck." She ordered coldly.

"But Ms. Blair—"

"Nothing!" Blair snapped.

That night Blair was careful to keep her clothes as non-descript as possible, ensuring that allure was the last look she was going for. When Chuck got home, she schooled her tone and the conversation to as normal for her as possible, meaning when they went out for dinner Chuck listened with an sly smile as Blair dressed down the other patrons in the restaurant. He held her hand in the limo on the way home, and when he asked off hand about her doctor's appointment, Blair dismissed it with practiced ease, and smiled at him with innocent eyes as he nodded and smiled back.

After the nurse had helped her turn in, she'd quickly gone about settling in, wanting to be asleep before Chuck even entered the room. She was not that lucky. It seemed like the second she dismissed the nurse for the night, Chuck was in the room, stripping of his clothes and getting ready for bed, making her mouth go dry. The mere sight of Chuck's body had always caused Blair to heat. She'd once mused that it probably had a great deal to do with the fact that he was so often perfectly clothed, that the sight of his actually skin got her going from its sheer rarity. But then she'd realized that Chuck Bass was the man she craved, he was in her blood with or without clothes, and tonight, when she knew she could touch him, but wouldn't, she thought she would go up in flames. Damn the sexy Mother Chucker.

"You're coming to bed early…" She croaked, quickly reaching for the glass of water beside the bed, but slowing because the action was telling.

He looked at her with a raise brow as he pulled on his pajama bottoms and walked towards the bed. "No earlier than usual…"

"Oh… well, goodnight then." She said quickly, shifting onto her side so her back was to him and she could pretend every dirty thought she'd ever had didn't come into her mind when she saw him crawl onto the bed.

The lights were extinguished, and Blair focused on calming her quickened breathing. It was not helped when Chuck was suddenly pressed against her back, his lips against her neck.

"Chuck!" She gasped, wanting to pull away, but being unable to bring herself to do so. She had to convince him to be the one to end this. "What are you doing?"

"You know…" He said between leaving wet, sucking, kisses against her skin. "I called the doctor this afternoon… to see how things went… he told me…"

"I'll have his license for breaking patient/doctor confidentiality!" She panted as his hands slid under her slip.

"Really? And here I'd bought him a yacht…" Chuck whispered as he gently pulled her onto her back.

He shifted against her, touching her body in ways he hadn't in weeks, demand in every caress. And for minutes they lost themselves.

"Have sex with me…" He implored seductively as he moved his body to gently push her into the mattress.

"No…" She whimpered, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders to hold him off. "We can't…"

"Blair…" He whispered against her lips before kissing her with an intent he'd held back on till tonight.

"No…" She clarified, tearing her mouth away. "I can't…"

"You can… we can…"

"You'll hate it…" She managed, feeling the desperate loss of what they used to be.

"Never." He swore as he kissed her again.

And Blair, who wanted him so desperately, caved on a moan, wrapping her arms around him and embracing whatever came next.

Later they collapsed in each other's arms, each breathless and locked in the after affects of a passion that had been without a vent for too long. It had been different, but hot and gratifying for both. It had been what Chuck had known they could still experience together and what Blair had feared was lost to them.

"I had thought that I couldn't... but you… and we… and I…" Blair stammered, as close to incoherent as Chuck had ever heard her.

He chuckled as he held her in his arms, stroking her damp cooling skin. "I did my research… read a few books… watched a few videos… the Internet…"

"Why am I not surprised?" Blair found to the strength to lift her head to roll her eyes at him.

The next morning Blair ignored Dorota's knowing smile as she brought the glowing couple's breakfast into the dining room. The rest of the day Blair got innuendo-laden messages from her husband; the man really knew how to take sexting to a new level. The evening went by in a blur and soon they were back in bed together… but tonight when he started trying to take it further than kissing, she turned her head away.

"Chuck… It's Tuesday…" She reminded him hesitantly, but with no less conviction. Last night had been wonderful, but she still believed he required more.

Chuck on the other hand was struggling to control his fury. Throwing his body away from hers, he got up from the bed, dressed, and left. If he hadn't he feared he would ring that perfect little neck of hers. It was the first night he hadn't stayed with her, and Blair couldn't even bring herself to try to go to sleep.

He came back later than usual, and was still drunk out of his mind after he'd showered and walked into their bedroom. Blair looked at him with tortured eyes. With a sigh of frustration he climbed into bed, yanking her into his arms, and holding her tightly. She clung to him. They finally fell asleep, Blair's ultimatum killing both of them.

TahDaH! Okay, as you might have noticed, I was not focused on proof reading. Still love me? I'm just watching season two right now, and I have to say… I love Cyrus. He's just SOOOO nice to Eleanor and to Blair. That's the kind of stepfather every kid should have! Can you tell my relationship with my stepfather is not as nice? Anyhoo, I hope you all have a good weekend!


	7. Chapter 7

Hellooooo everyone! Here's my thing about fireworks… I find them SO cool… for about five minutes. Any longer than that and I get bored. Now… how much would some of you hate me if I said I'd gotten an idea for another fic? I ask this given the fact that I have three chaptered fics going already right now… and I start my second class next week, which means I'll have class four days a week, and less time. I can say… it's a lot lighter and more fun that my two Chair chaptered fics that are going right now? I can say that it might get me out of the doghouse with some of you… Orrrrrrrr I could hold off on it until I finish either IToldYou or Gone… Thoughts? Here we go…

Serena and Dan sat in a quiet bar. He was brooding. She was flirting. He put his head down on the table, banging it a few times to shake something loose. As his forehead rested against the wood, the waitress came up and put their drinks on the table, and then walked away. The sound of her heels echoed off the floor and through Dan's mind. He sat up quickly, nearly knocking over their drinks.

"What?" She asked, quickly finishing hers before he could nearly knock it over again.

"Nothing." He said off hand, trying not to think what was in his head.

"Seriously, Dan…"

"Okay, Chuck asked me if I saw anything the night of Blair's accident…"

"Really?"

"Yeah… and he doesn't believe it was an accident. When he asked me… He'd got that brooding intense thing going where I didn't know if he was going to try to kill me or have sex with me."

"You're not his type." She teased; hoping if he lightened up he'd spill.

"Anyways… I thought he was nuts, but it got me thinking. I was all over the place, and I didn't see anything… but I think I remember hearing something."

"Let's leave cryptic up to Chuck. What did you hear?"

"Heels."

After a quick trip to the UES, Serena half dragged Dan into the Bass penthouse, and straight through to the master bedroom. At the door Dan final ground to a statue like stop.

"I don't want to see anything!"

"Do you hear anything?" Serena rolled her eyes.

"No…"

"Then they're not doing anything. Unless they're gagged, they're loud. Trust me."

"I could have lived my whole life without ever knowing that…" Dan mused as Serena shoved open the double doors, charged in, and quickly turned on the overhead lights. Both Serena and Dan were surprised to find only one body in the large bed, and also that it didn't move even with the room now fully lit.

"Blair…" Serena said, gently shaking her friend's shoulder. When that didn't work, she shook harder. "Blair!"

"Serena." Dan said seriously, and held up the bottle of sleeping pills by the bed.

Serena looked back at Blair, still concerned, and tried waking her again.

Finally Blair stirred, and murmured confusedly as she rubbed her eyes. "Serena… and Dan?"

"Blair, it's okay. Where's Chuck?" Serena soothed, but still asked.

"It's Thursday…" Groggily, Blair rubbed at her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean? And what is wrong with you?"

"I… Ambien…" Blair murmured her eyes already closing.

The past week things had been very stressed between her and Chuck. She could no longer fall asleep before or after he left without some help. She had however taken to doubling the dosage.

"Okay…" Serena said, concerned about her friend and suspicious as to Chuck's whereabouts. "You just go back to sleep… we'll go for breakfast in the morning."

"Hmmm…" Blair said, already being pulled back to sleep by the pills.

Serena stroked Blair's hair back from her face, worried about her friend. Just then Dorota appeared in the door. She was about to speak, but her head dropped instead, and she signaled for them to come out. As they left Dorota went in, pulling the covers over Blair, and then turning out the lights like she had when she was a little girl.

Once they were all in the living room Serena turned to Dorota for answers.

"Where the hell is Chuck?"

"Mr. Chuck… he ask me to come stay here till he get home every Tuesday and Thursday night—"

"That ass! He's cheating on Blair!" Serena burst out, furious.

"No, but I can't decide if that would hurt them less." Dorota commented.

"What?" Dan asked confused.

Dorota folded her hands in her lap before starting to explain. "Weeks ago Mr. Chuck came to me… When he first ask me… he say he has thinking about buying a new club, so he had to go out and look at different ones to be sure what one he wanted. He didn't want Ms. Blair to be home alone, so he asks me to come over and stay here till he gets home. He ask me not to tell Ms. Blair, because since they stopped having the night nurse, she wanted the independence, and she would be angry if she knew that I was here. I say okay. I think I take care of Ms. Blair the way I always have."

Dorota shifted, still upset about what was going on with her Blair and her husband. "So for couple weeks, I don't think anything. Then… I start getting suspicious. Mr. Chuck… he does not leave or come back like a businessman. He leaves and comes back like a man condemned. I start to think… maybe not what it seems… this looking at clubs. Now and then, yes, but twice a week? I think what you think. He cheat on Ms. Blair. First I think maybe I call my cousins, and see to it Mr. Chuck never touch woman again… then I think he look to miserable to be a happy adulterer. So I have Vanya follow him."

Serena and Dan exchanged looks before Dorota continued. "Sometimes, yes, he goes to clubs, but mostly he sit in his office and get drunk."

"Why would he do this?" Serena questioned.

Dorota sighed heavily. "At first I don't know… then… he come home REALLY drunk one night… so drunk that at first I don't understand what he is saying. Then he tell me… Ms. Blair say that she not enough for him. She say he need to… you know… other women… women that can bend body into pretzel. He say she crazy. She say Tuesdays and Thursdays he go out and… you know, pretzel women. He say no. She say yes, or I leave you. She thinks she win, he go out but not cheat. He drink and brood. Those two love each other like no one I have ever see. But in this? They both lose."

"B…" Serena said shutting her eyes, now knowing that Blair's insecurities had come back with a vengeance, and her heart breaking for both Chuck and Blair.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this… but I actually feel sorry for Chuck Bass." Dan said with a sigh.

"Is not good all around." Dorota said sadly. "I thought things get better when they able to… you know… but it get worse. I think Mr. Chuck thought that she would end the Two Night Rule, but she didn't. Now he's stressed. She's stressed. Is not good."

A block away in his office, Chuck watched the clock on his phone move slowly toward 2:23am. Each night he picked a time when he would go home. He poured another drink down his throat and tried not think about the dark circles that Blair spent a fortune in cover up hiding, but that he saw nonetheless. He knew why. He had been distant all week. He knew he was punishing her for her deal, he knew he was hurting her, but when she hurt him, on instinct he wanted to hurt her right back. So here they were.

They'd made love every night other than Tuesdays or Thursdays, and Chuck wracked his brain to find a way out of this ordeal. He didn't want anyone but Blair, and he was growing very tired of pretending that he was having anyone but Blair. Pouring another drink, he decided he cater to her crazy for one more week… then things were going to change. As the clock finally hit 2:23am, he pulled himself up, and half stumbled, half sauntered out of the building. Buckman was waiting with the car, and Chuck was just about to get in when the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He felt like he was being watched, but looking around he saw nothing but a few other lost souls wandering the streets of the Upper East Side that night.

Finally getting home, he walked into his living room expecting to see Dorota, but instead found a welcoming committee.

"Sis… Humphrey… what a surprise…" Chuck greeted moodily. "I take it the domestic has spilled the beans…"

Chuck glanced over at Dorota, who raised her chin, not scared of Mr. Chuck.

"Chuck, this has to stop." Serena said sincerely.

"Ahh… Care to tell me your plan to go up against Blair Waldorf? I've had more success than you in the past, but please… enlighten me."

Knowing that it was nearly impossible to out Blair, Blair, Serena clammed up.

"Have you thought of the truth?" Dan piped up, and ignored the incredulous looks he received from the room. "I'm serious. I don't think you're the crazy one for telling your wife that you are not, nor do you plan on cheating on her. Call me crazy."

Chuck rubbed his eyes for a moment… and then kicked them all out. He was tempted to pour a drink, but instead went into the bedroom, showered and came to sit by her side. The sleeping pills he knew she was taking had her down for the count, and gently rubbed her cheek.

"What am I going to do with you?" He asked softly, loving her.

Chuck truly believed that he loved Blair more than anyone could love another person, and he very clearly remembered her asking him if it were possible to love someone too much. He hadn't answered her, but he knew it wasn't. He would, and had, done anything for Blair. But it was time for this deal to end.

TahDAH! Oh, ye of little faith. So quick to think I was doing something awful with our Chair. I would NEVER have him cheat on her! There are a couple of you I'm casting eyes at right now. You know who you are. Tsk, tsk, tsk. To those of you who had faith in me and my dedication to Chair… BIG hug for you!


	8. Chapter 8

Hello! Okay, you are all in luck. There is a heat wave here in my nation's capital, and it has made my fan my new best friend. It's too hot to do much else than sit and move little more than my fingers. OH! AND… OMG! Okay, so maybe "Dan" and whoever is responsible for what Dan does in this fic… forgot about the heels. Oops! Here we go…

Chuck woke up the next morning feeling better than he had in a while… and for once not being torn between shaking some sense into is wife, or going along with her. He had given this mess one more week, and in that week he would figure a way out of it. Stretching he glanced over at her and smiled. Regularly she wasn't a drooler, but on the Ambien… he knew when he told her that, that alone would get her off the stuff. He also knew the only reason she was talking the heavy sleeping pills was because of their deal, since she only seemed to need them on days that started with a T, but that would change soon.

Using the sheet he wiped her face, and kissed the tip of her nose. He smiled when he saw her nose crinkle, so he did it again, and this time was rewarded with his face being slapped away. Under her mask, and still half asleep, she heard him chuckle. It made her try to force her mind to wake up further, since he sounded like he was in a good mood and she didn't want to miss it. The man had been in a classic Chuck Bass temper all week, and she hoped that this was a signal that he was now resigned and would just be her Chuck, regardless of everything else. Shoving the mask off her face, she squinted up at him, and smiled.

"Can I help you?" She asked in her best impression of a sales clerk.

Looking very satisfied with himself, Chuck grinned, kissed her once more, and got up to head for the bathroom.

"What was that look for?" She called suspiciously. Frustratingly there was no answer from the man who was now humming to himself in the shower. This was not good, Blair thought.

However, Chuck was charming and attentive all through breakfast, listening as she recounted the odd dream she had about Serena and Dan Humphrey showing up in their room which Chuck seemed to find far funnier than Blair felt was warranted, insisting for the first time in a week that he would accompany her to school, before heading to the office. Blair's Chuck sense was tingling. He was up to something, and Blair being Blair was going to find out.

After dropping Blair at school, Chuck headed to the office, and exited his limo with a near skip to his step. He had several ideas already filtering through his mind and he intended to spend the rest of the day flushing out the best one. He nearly tripped over the woman that walked in front of him.

"Chuck?" Anna smiled at him.

"Anna." He greeted as civilly as he would any of this former lovers.

"It's so funny to bump into you like this since I've been meaning to call you." She smiled. "It must be fate."

"I wouldn't go that far… Manhattan is a smaller world than you'd think…" He commented, already taking a step away so she'd get the hint that he wasn't in the mood to reminisce.

"It was just that I heard about your wife." She said with open sincere eyes, and she reached out to touch his arm. "I'm a nurse… and you know if there's anything I can do… to help you, all you have to do is ask."

Chuck was a man who had had women throwing themselves at him since before his voice even started to brake, he knew a come-on when he heard one, and he knew what was being offered. Coolly pulling his arm away, his eyes grew steely.

"Thank you, but no. I have everything I need."

Quickly exchanging goodbyes, Chuck headed into his office, and the more interesting task of figuring out how to best Blair.

That afternoon, Blair skipped her study group to get home with plenty of time before Chuck. And arriving through her front door she quickly dismissed the help, and the more difficult task of getting Dorota to take the afternoon off, but she finally got the place to herself. However, she did face a certain challenge, and there was only one person she could call to help her and not turn her in to the Bribing Basstard.

She texted. _"Gigantor, my place. Now. Urgent. Top secret._"

Twenty minutes later Serena showed up.

"You know, one day you're going to call me a name, and I just might take it personally."

Blair rolled her eyes knowing that if that day hadn't come yet, it probably never would. "Please. No one needs legs that long. You're a freak of nature, and you're lucky to have been born rich or those legs would be working a poll in Vegas."

Sighing, and taking it like she always did, because Blair was her best friend, and the only person that didn't spend a great deal of time telling her how perfect she was. "You needed me?"

"Yes." Blair sighed with a smile, getting back to the task at hand. "I actually need that height of yours. You're looking high, I'm looking low, and we're going to find out what my husband is hiding."

"Yeah, there are a lot of secrets floating around lately…" Serena hinted, hoping her friend would confide in her.

"There always are." Blair said primly. "And I know most of them, so let's find out the one that I don't, shall we?"

Given the size of the apartment, Blair had put a great deal of thought into where Chuck would hide something he didn't want her to know about. They started with his home office, then the bathrooms, and finally it hit Blair.

"The closets."

"What? You practically live in your closet and Chuck knows you go into his all the time."

"No! The help closets! Wherever you'd keep sheets… or soap… or a vacuum cleaner. Something I'd never need!"

After a half hour spent finding all the utility closets, it took them another half hour to find the file on the top shelf of a linen cupboard.

"I knew he'd put it out of reach!" Blair huffed, taking the file as she rolled into her private sitting room to rummage through it. Serena sat in a chair and took up papers that Blair passed her.

"Do you know what this is?" Blair asked Serena incredulously.

"Some kind of research…"

"It's the spinal research done by that clinic in Europe! Chuck told me they'd hit a dead-end!"

Both women started rapidly reading through the papers. Blair was getting angrier and angrier at each word.

"Why would he tell me they've hit a dead end? They're ready to begin trials!" She broke out, very upset.

"B…" Serena said gently. "You know why… look what they're saying."

Blair knew what Serena was referring to. The treatment was highly experimental, did not guarantee success, and what probably had stopped Chuck in his track… the procedure was potentially life threatening.

Blair shut her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, Serena could see the determination in them. "It's my body, S. It's my call."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get the surgery." Blair said with determination.

"Okay… but you know he's going to do everything in his power to stop you, right?"

Blair nodded, thinking how simple her friend could be. "Of course. Which is why we're going to put this file back, exactly the way you got it, and we're going to use the element of surprise…"

"Why do I not like your liberal use of the word 'we'?" Serena groaned with trepidation.

Over the next couple of days Chuck and Blair were the fake nicest they could possibly be as they both plotted against the other. By Thursday Blair had put in place her Europe plan, while Chuck was heading off to his office for his last night. He had just gotten to the office when his phone rang he answered it absently and wished he hadn't when he realized it was Anna. She'd called him several times since the morning outside his office, and had offered many things that had all been refused. Chuck had grown harsher needing her to understand she didn't mean anything to him.

"Chuck… I need to talk to you…"

"No. You don't."

"Chuck, it was good between us! We were happy, everybody was happy for us!"

"You were happy. There's only one person on this planet that has ever made me really happy, and I married her. You were the tool that got that accomplished. I would think you would have figured that out by now."

"Blair can't make you happy anymore now can she? She's broken. You need me."

"She is more woman, lover and wife than you could ever even imagine to be. Don't call again." Chuck hung up sharply.

Chuck sat at his desk, not drinking for once, but going of some files and looking at some future development prospects, when he heard a knock at his open office door. He glanced up and raised a brow and leered.

"Humphrey… I hope you don't think that because you're in on the secret it makes us BFFs…"

"I'll live." Dan walked further into the room. "Look Chuck, with everything that happened the other night, I forgot to tell you why Serena and went over in the first place."

Chuck waited, and Dan looked at him seriously. "Remember when you asked me if I saw anything?"

Chuck nodded.

"I didn't but I remembered… I did hear a sound. Heels on the marble."

Chuck was on his cell with his private investigator before Dan even finished his sentence.

At home Blair waited till Chuck had left, and the grabbed the assist board, sliding along it and into her chair. She rolled into the living room and was surprised to find Dorota reading Us Weekly on the couch. Figuring that Chuck had asked Dorota to stay to ensure that Blair didn't find the file, Blair pretended to believe Dorota's story of having had a fight with Vanya. Blair sent her home against all protests, and with a comment on how sometimes we all have to choose sides, and Blair was picking Vanya's tonight.

Finally alone she sat at the dining table with her laptop going over her plans. She heard the elevator chime and she panicked thinking it was Chuck coming home far too early. One, she had avoided seeing him come home from this twice weekly sex crawl, and she hoped to continue that. It was enough torture listening him shower the other women off his body, she didn't need to smell them on him. Secondly, she had way too much incriminating evidence on her screen right now. Closing the windows, she shut the computer, and slid it into a drawer as she headed to the living room.

She stopped as she saw Anna standing in the foyer, and she came forward as she spotted Blair.

"What are you doing here?" Blair asked, not mincing word.

"Why Mrs. Bass, that's no way to greet a guest." Anna said evenly.

Ignoring that, Blair dismissed her. "It's late, and I'm not accepting visitors, so if you don't mind…"

"But I do mind. I have so much I need to discuss with you…" Anna said heatedly. "Like how you ended up married to my boyfriend?

"Nice girls finish last, or hadn't you heard." Blair quipped, smiling in victory.

Anna sneered as she advanced on Blair. "Unfortunately for you… I'm not that nice of a girl."

It was in that moment that Blair Waldorf realized that she just might have underestimated an opponent.

TahDAH! Okay, since this was based off a tiny spoiler… have you seen the pics of Ed in Paris? Those better be HIS clothes, but I doubt it since he's got the cane. Chuck Bass does not dress down or do casual Friday attire! The Mother Chucker can rock purple and an ascot and look sexy a hell doing it. This fic was only supposed to be like three chapters, but as you can see it's gone long. It will probably only go one or two more and then it's done.


	9. Chapter 9

Hello! So… are you all as Chair strung out as I am? My writing has been a little off and you'll have to forgive me. I blame two things… the uncertainty of our couple's immediate future (we know they're endgame, but I'm talking immediate), and the fact that I realized a great deal of my Chair stress was actually real life stress is Chair-clothing. Both slowed my inspiration, but here is this chapter. Here we go…

There was something in the vibe coming off Anna that put Blair on edge. She was almost tempted to feel trepidation, but she knew animals could smell fear, so with confidence she raised her chin and spoke to Anna in her most superior voice. "If you're here to speak with Chuck, he's indisposed at the moment… and will be to you for the rest of eternity. It might be for the best if you don't hold your breath."

"Like I said, I'm here to talk to you, Mrs. Bass." Anna walked further into the elegant room, looking at the richness of the décor. "You don't deserve this. You spit evil. Did you think I didn't notice you? Lurking around, making moves on Chuck… waiting till he was vulnerable. Then you made your move."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Blair mused with innocence, but she kept her eyes locked on the other woman. Something to the lyrical tone in Anna's voice set Blair's nerves on end.

"YOU KNOW!" Anna bent over screeching, and grabbed a lamp to hurl across the room.

Blair Waldorf was not a back down kind of girl. Yes, she'd manipulate to get what she wanted, but she always kept her eye on the prize, and had the force of will to get what was in her line of sight. Because of this she had become very good at reading people. She didn't quite know how she'd missed the fact that Anna was a certifiable loon.

"You need to leave."

"No." Anna smiled with vacant eyes. "No, you need to leave."

Anna slipped a syringe from her coat pocket, and pulled the cap free from the needle, before walking towards Blair. "You know… the problem is… I left too much to chance last time…

"What?" Blair questioned wearily, yet had a strong suspicion of what Anna was hinting at. She didn't have to wait long.

"This time a little overdose of meds, and a nice long bath… Everyone will think you were so depressed that you took your own life. Chuck will turn to me, just like he did before, and everything will go back to the way it was. Chuck and I…"

"My god, you're more delusional than I though. Chuck will never turn to you… he didn't even turn to you last time. You were a pawn. Pawns don't take down the Queen."

"I don't know about that… You're tougher than you look, I'll give you that. I would have thought that fall would have killed you…"

The admission was like waving a red flag in Blair's face. Before her was the woman who had nearly killed her, and stuck her in this chair. In a rage, Blair hit the throttle.

Caught off guard, Anna was hit head on by the heavily powered chair, and it knocked her to the ground. Unfortunately, running over Anna's body caused the chair to topple over and spill Blair onto the ground. Stunned, and with the wind knocked out of her, Blair was momentarily powerless and Anna pushed the wheelchair off her body and got up to stand over Blair.

"That was stupid. Now look at you…"

Out of the corner of her eye Blair spotted the syringe that had been dropped during the scuffle. With Anna within reach, Blair grabbed Anna's leg, leveraged herself up, and took a massive bit of the other woman's leg.

Anna screamed in agony, clutching her leg, and Blair used that time to start to drag herself towards the fallen needle that lay just under a side table. Just as she was about to grab it, Anna caught her shoulder, turning her over, and then straddled Blair, her hands coming around Blair's neck.

"This won't look like an accident, but maybe that won't matter! I'm the good one! Chuck should be with me!

Anna's fingers gripped tightly at Blair's neck, cutting off her breath, and slowing her reactions. In desperation Blair's tried to shove Anna from her, but knew she was wasting precious seconds, so craning she began to strain for the needle that was just out of her grasp. Suddenly Anna lifted Blair slightly to slam her head back on the marble floor. Blair saw stars, but the move gave her enough space to grab the needle, and she slammed it into Anna's arm and pushed the plunger.

"NOOOOO!" Anna screamed, trying to tighten her grip, but already fading from the drugs that were now rushing through her system. In seconds she collapsed onto Blair.

Blair used all her strength to shove Anna's prone body off her own. Panting, and not knowing if Anna would come to, Blair rolled onto her stomach and proceeded to drag her body across the room, her legs a dead weight behind her. The slow process had her sweating, but she was desperate to reach the phone in the hall and get help. Never big on trust, she anticipated Anna gaining consciousness any second now.

She had just made it to the phone in the hall when she heard the elevator chime.

"BLAIR!"

Breathless with relief, Blair rested her head on the floor for a heartbeat before yelling. "CHUCK!"

Chuck ran to her and slid to her side, gathering her up in his arms. Blair arms wrapped around him, and the couple held each other tightly, adrenaline still beating inside of them, to the point that they were oblivious of the police that had followed Chuck in. Chuck finally pulled back a little to look at her face, to make sure she was really alright.

"I'm sorry." He whispered over and over.

"It's not your fault." She whispered back, which then turned into desperate I love yous shared between the two.

Very late that night Blair lay propped in a suite at the Palace. All her specialists had checked her out, and while Chuck wanted her to stay in the hospital despite being told she was fine, Blair had insisted on leaving. The police were still processing their home after Anna's attack and arrest, so Chuck had brought her here. To their suite.

Of course Dorota had shown up, and Blair had both Chuck and her Dorota fussing all over her. It was with relief that Blair welcomed Serena when she rushed in.

"B!"

The girls hugged on the bed, and just in time, there was a knock at the door. Dorota answered it and it was the police asking to speak with Chuck. Reluctantly Chuck stepped into the hallway to talk to them, and with one down, Blair asked Dorota if she could get some of her things that were still at her mother's so that she wasn't going to have to live in pajamas for the rest of her life.

Alone, Serena smiled at Blair, and tucked a strand of hair back from her shoulder. "You're really okay?"

"I'm fine." Blair assured her knowing they didn't have much time. "I could have told you all she was crazy. But that's beside the point. Is everything still set for tomorrow?"

"B, are YOU crazy? You still want to go through with this?"

"Yes! Shutter Island's newest resident doesn't change what I want."

"Okay, but Psycho Anna has made Domineering Chuck even worse. He's never going to let you out of his sight."

Blair frowned, knowing Serena was right, but then she smiled, and that scared Serena more.

"What?"

"It's time to call in some favours."

The next day, Chuck sauntered into Lily's penthouse with more agitation than he usually had when walking in. This morning as they sat in the hotel over breakfast, with Serena joining them, Blair had insisted on going to class today. Sensing that he wouldn't be able to change her mind, he had then insisted on going with her. Blair had smiled saying that that was sweet, and only tried to change his mind twice. Then towards the end of breakfast his phone had rung, and it had been one of the few people he considered family. Lily had asked him to come and meet with her, it was urgent and she knew, what with what happened to Blair, he'd be busy today, but could he please come over. Chuck, covered the mouth piece and related it to Blair, and with wide understanding eyes Blair told Chuck that he should go if Lily needed him, she was fine, and she was sure Serena would agree to accompany her to her class and her errands afterward. Serena quickly and exuberantly agreed, going on and on until she yelped as if she'd been pinched under the table. Still reluctant, Chuck had finally agreed, but something didn't sit right. Something about the whole thing had smelt… off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. As he looked over at his beautiful wife, breathing and alive, he chalked his unease up to having nearly lost her… again. He would do whatever it took to see that she never came that close to death again.

Chuck smiled as Lily greeted, kissing his cheek before leading him into the living room. Chuck froze for a moment upon seeing the people sitting around the room, but he ignored them and slouched onto a sofa.

"Is this a firing squad or do I get a fair trial?" Chuck mused as he observed a room full of Humphreys.

Rufus and Dan looked nervous, Eric stood at the window looking out, but Chuck would swear before he turned away he saw a look of guilt on his brother's face. The only two who looked like they had it together were Lily and Jenny. Those two looked at him, and began a calculated discussion of the past, present, and future; a very long calculated discussion that lasted so long that they ordered lunch, and then sat for what felt like eons afterwards with Chuck saying very little and the other men saying even less… unless Chuck started making excuses to leave, and then one of the other men would jump in with some slightly off version of Humphrey logic. As the afternoon dragged, Chuck began to shift in his seat more and more, the only thing keeping him from walking out was the texts Blair sent him about her professor's outfit, Serena falling asleep in class, and a pair of earrings at Tiffany's that a good husband would buy his loving wife, that told him she was fine. The texts, coupled with his respect for Lily, would have kept him planted for at least another hour, when Eric suddenly lost it.

"I can't do this anymore." Eric bit out. "He has to know!"

"Eric!" Jenny burst out. "Don't!"

Chuck raised a brow looking at Eric. "What do I need to know?"

Suddenly Dan and Rufus made excuses to leave the room, and Eric took a deep breath. "They made a deal with Blair—"

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this…" Chuck drawled, already starting to stand.

"Blair calls off her vendetta against Jenny… if we keep you here till at least 3pm."

Chuck didn't need to glance at his watch to know it was already four. "What is she up to?"

Chuck was already pulling out his phone as he stormed to the elevator.

"I don't know." Eric said urgently, following Chuck. "Serena came by to pick up her passport, and Blair was with her. Blair talked with Jenny and Lily about the deal, and that's all I know."

Chuck froze as the elevator doors opened, and Eric saw him shut his eyes for a brief second, and when he opened them they simmered with rage.

"She found the file…" Chuck said cryptically as he stepped onto the lift and dialed his wife. He got her voicemail as the doors slid shut. "Waldorf, when I find you, you better hope your plan worked, because you are going to need those legs to run…"

TahDAH! Okay, so the next chapter will be the last for this fic, and then I'm going to focus on IToldYou. I move in two weeks and I've got finals, papers, and presentations before that. Hopefully, I'll have some stuff up for you guys anyway. I feel the need for some jealous Chuck.

PS-If anyone knows the total number of Eva episodes yet, I would LOVE to hear it. I NEED spoilers.


	10. Chapter 10

Hello! The count down is on. Just about two days away from season four. I have not had this amount of anxiety over a ship since the season three premier of One Tree Hill. Long term Naleys you know what I'm talking about. Once again, please forgive my many typos. I'm lazy. I'm not going to say this is going to be great… I'm just going to say… Here we go…

Blair lay safely ensconced, for the moment, in her hospital bed. She had been prepped for surgery and now she waited, with Serena by her side, for the orderlies to come and take her to the operating room. Flicking through magazines she tried not to think about what was stressing her more, the idea that the operation might not work, or what Chuck would do to her when he found her. In agitation she yelled out to the unknown staff in the hall.

"Can we get with the healing? Some of us are on a deadline you know!"

"Dead would be a good word for it…" Serena mused not looking up from her Vogue.

Blair avoided meeting Serena's eyes.

"Just because Chuck and I are married does not mean I gave up my autonomy. This is my body and it's my choice." Blair said tersely knowing that Chuck would have a quite different take on her last words.

"If you're so brave, why don't you check your messages?" Serena half smiled and raised a brow.

"We're in a HOSPITAL! You can't turn on a cell phone in a hospital! Don't you know anything! It could kill Grandpa in the next room and create an international incident!" Blair responded in one of her highest pitches.

Serena just nodded and sat back to flip through a magazine. "I'd just hate to be you when he catches up… Does it make you wonder if he actually bought that castle with a working dungeon? If he did… I'd start looking into a realistic spray tan, because that boy will never let you out again."

Choosing to ignore her best friend, and her most likely true words, Blair hurled her magazine at Serena. Not even looking up, Serena dodged it, and then glanced up at Blair.

"The meds must be kicking in. You're usually a better shot."

The lights in the hospital flickered and the girls looked around.

"If you say one thing about that being an omen, I'm going to send a blast to Gossip Girl about the summer we went to Greece…" Blair threatened as the lights righted themselves.

"I really don't think you're in any position to make threats…" An ominous voice seethed from the doorway.

Both girls' eyes shot over to the very angry man whose gaze was fixed on his wife.

Blair flinched and a very rare curse word fell from her lips before she flopped back against the pillows. Serena made quick excuses to leave, and once Chuck shut the door the couple was completely alone.

She wouldn't look at him. He wouldn't look away from her. She repeated, "I don't care that he's staring at me" in her head over and over, in an attempt to ignore him, but when he quickly strode to her and caught her jaw, he forced her face up to his. She shut her eyes, and he shook her chin a little, and finally her gaze met his.

"Chuck, so good to see you. I was just about to text you. Class got out early, so I took a little trip. So glad you could join me." She said flippantly. She was totally busted, but she wasn't one to go down with egg on her face.

Given that his face was mere inches from hers, she couldn't miss the way the muscle ticked in his jaw. Not the best sign.

"Damn you." He bit out harshly.

"So I guess that means you won't be taking me shopping while we're here?" She said with maliciously innocent eyes.

"Oh, I'll take you shopping Mrs. Bass… because that's all you're getting out of this little adventure…"

"CHUCK!"

"This ends now." He told her firmly.

"If you mean it ends with me having the surgery, than you're right." She told him stubbornly, and shoved at his shoulders.

"Blair."

"Chuck."

They stared at each other with an intensity that would have flayed anyone else. Neither one was willing to back down, and Blair knew she'd have to try another tactic.

"Chuck… please… don't stop this." She softly implored, trying to get him to see how much she wanted to do this. She knew that with him here, she'd never be able to get the surgery without his okay. He'd threaten the doctors. He'd buy the hospital. He'd take over the whole damn country if it meant getting his own way in this. She had to make him see her way on this.

Chuck heard the plea, but couldn't weaken his resolve.

"I don't care! I don't care if you never walk again!"

"I care!"

"Blair, please…" And she heard the break in him. "I can't lose you again… I need you."

She had never doubted her love for him only that she might love him too much. The little voice that told her she wasn't enough, she had, for the most part, silenced years ago, but when it came to Chuck's love… she knew he loved her. She knew it, but after what happened with Jack and the Empire… She had told him once that she loved him so much it consumed her, but she had begun to doubt that Chuck loved her in the same all consuming way. She had reconciled herself to being the most important person in his life, if not the most important overall, and she had done it because she loved him that much. Her heart told her she was meant to be with him, and despite her cool exterior, Blair was a romantic who tended to follow her heart. Now looking into his eyes she saw the fear, the fear of losing her forever, and she knew they were the same, she once again not only believed, but knew he loved her above everything. It was almost enough to stop her. Almost.

Her hands slipped around his neck and up into his hair. She gently massaged his head as she pulled him closer until his forehead rested against hers.

"You're not going to lose me. But I have to do this, and you have to let me." She whispered looking into his eyes.

She wasn't trying to handle him or manipulate him; she was just trying to get him to understand. As he tightly shut his eyes and he let out a deep breath, she knew it was going to happen.

"Everything will be fine." She managed a bright smile hoping she believed it herself. "You'll see."

"And you think I'm the enormously stubborn pain in the ass." He sighed resigned. "Mrs. Bass, you are going to be the death of me."

She kissed him then, because that's all she could do. An hour later they wheeled Blair Waldorf-Bass into surgery, and her husband began the longest wait of his life.

Eleven hours later, Blair's eyelids fluttered open and the first thing she registered was that if felt like she'd been beaten with a stick. The second thing was that her husband was staring at her and if it wasn't for the fact that she was used to it, she would have been rather creeped out.

Her head felt like it was stuffed with clay because of the anastesia, but she turned her head on the pillow to attempt a smile at him. It wasn't her best.

"It's about time." Chuck said, not even trying to smile back.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means… you should have been awake hours ago. You owe me." He brooded.

"Put it on my tab." She smiled.

Getting up he walked over to her and smoothed the hair away from her face. Leaning down he kissed her deeply before pulling the chair closer to the bed and sitting by her side. He took her hand in both of his and massaged her fingers. She squeezed his back, trying to show him that she was fine. After several moments where both let out the breath they'd been holding, she finally managed to ask.

"How did it go?"

"It went well… other than a patient who should have come out of the anastesia three hours after surgery, but stayed asleep for an extra two just for the hell of it."

"Beauty sleep, Bass." She chided.

The doctors had told them that the results would not be instantaneous, and that the swelling would have to go down before their would be any signs of her regaining sensation. If that happened she would still need extensive physiotherapy, but they'd cross that bridge when the came to it.

"You should get some more of it…" Chuck said, wanting her to rest and heal.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blair demanded indignantly.

The edge of Chuck's mouth curled up in a smile. It was in that tone that he knew she was going to be alright after the surgery. There was that spark. There was his Blair.

"It means, thank you for waking up, but it's time for you to get some rest." He smiled, coming forward to kiss the top of her head.

Only because she was starting to feel tired, and NOT because he told her to, Blair settled back against the pillows and went to sleep.

A few hours later Blair awoke for the second time, but now it was her best friend sitting at her bedside.

"Well, look who finally decided to join us…" Serena smiled.

After Serena got up and the girls exchanged a hug, Blair looked around. "Where's Chuck?"

"Don't worry, he hasn't left you… even though I think you took about three years off his life. Not a wise move by the way given how he lived his teens. He needs all the time he can get… maybe it's time to not almost die every other week?"

"Why is it European Serena always thinks she's a standup comic?" Blair mused.

"I talked Chuck into freshening up, and he should be back here soon." Serena smiled. "Your parents have been here… your mom gave Chuck hell for letting you do this."

"As if she's ever let anyone stop her from doing what she wanted." Blair dismissed while Serena couldn't help think about how the apple didn't fall far.

Serena reached forward and grabbed Blair's hands. "Seriously, B, enough with the life and death. I need my best friend!"

A week and a half later Blair and Serena sat on the Waldorf balcony looking over the Paris skyline. She'd been released from the hospital a few days ago with a clean bill of health, but there had still been no sensation or movement in her legs. While they had been assured it could just take more time, the lack of progress was weighing heavily on Blair's mind, and she grew pensive.

"What's wrong, B?" Serena asked taking her friend's hand, but already knowing the answer.

"I was so sure this would work…"

"We don't know it has yet!" Serena burst out, ever the optimist.

"It's not just that… S…" Blair looked at her lap and the secret she had sworn not to tell started to slip from her lips. "I did something… Correction. I made Chuck do something… and if this doesn't work… then I can't tell him to stop… and I want it to stop… and I want to be enough for him…"

"Yeah… about that…"

"What?" Blair's senses started tingling. "What do you know?"

"If you're questioning if Chuck loves you, don't. He does. If you're worried that Chuck is cheating on you… you're not going to like the answer to this. And oddly the answer is probably going to tick you off more than if it were positive."

"What?" Blair asked tightly.

"He isn't. He's just been making you think he's been sleeping around, because you're a clinically insane control freak who he loves and wants to make happy."

"WHAT?" Blair lost it. "I ask him to do ONE thing! ONE! And can he do it for me? No!"

"Blair…" Serena tried to interrupt.

"I mean, really? Suddenly the Mother Chucker has a conscience? Where was that before he had shame sex with Jenny?"

"Blair—" Serena tried to break in for a whole new reason.

"And do you know what this means? This means he's been lying to me for MONTHS! Causing me stress. I'm going to have to have botox five years earlier than I had plan—"

"BLAIR!"

"WHAT?"

"Look!"

Blair looked down to where Serena was pointing. At first she didn't process why her foot was so awe inspiring that Serena felt the need to interrupt. Then Blair was brought up short. Her foot was tapping. Her foot was tapping like it did when she was agitated.

Later that afternoon, Blair sat in the study, and for a moment Chuck paused because he didn't think they'd had a second alone together in days since there was always some family member dropping by. He tried to tell himself that that was the only reason for his unease, but there was something else coming off her.

"Blair…" He greeted softly, kissing her cheek and then moved to stand.

Before he could fully do so, her snaked out and caught his collar and she lurched him closer.

"Anything weighing heavily on your mind, Bass?"

"Have your pain meds worn off?" He grimaced as her other hand grabbed a hold of his hair and yanked.

"Chuck, have you or have you not been engaging in extra marital activities on Tuesday and Thursday nights?"

"Blair…"

"Have you?" Blair demanded as she grasped his ear and twisted

Chuck yelled and confessed. "NO! No, I haven't caved to your twisted little plan. You're the one I want. The only one. Deal with it, Waldorf."

"LIAR!" She condemned, a second before her foot kicked his shin.

"You had to do what you had to do, and I had to not do what I didn't want to do." He said breaking away and sitting down on the edge of a coffee table. He usually had to rub his shin after she kicked him, but the blow hadn't been nearly as hard as usual… That's when it hit him. She'd kicked him.

"Do it again." He said, dead serious.

Blair broke out in a huge dimpled smile, and happily obliged him. It was small and it was weak, but Blair's legs had movement. Chuck, while often turned on when she played rough, had never been so happy to have her kick him in his life.

"It worked!" He laughed, coming down on his knees to wrap his arms around her.

Blair's arms came about him and hugged him back, and she tucked her head against his. When she finally pulled away, she smiled down at him. "Feel free to admit that I was right and you were wrong… I suggest you do so with diamonds."

She laughed as he hugged her again, but then pulled away to attempt a serious expression. "I'm still mad at you for lying to me about our arrangement."

"Tell it to a judge. I somehow doubt too many people will be sympathetic to you and your complaints about my fidelity."

"Still… I think you owe me two sparkly things…"

"You're going to get much more than that…" He smiled, a second before his lips claimed hers.

TaHDAH! Okay this was the last chapter, but I may do an epilogue. As some of you may know, I've been having a hard time writing Chair due to the end of last season, but mostly the spoilers I've been hearing. I'm sorry if that affected this ending! If it sucks, I kind of understand.

Given that this may be the last chapter, I'll do the speech I usually do when I end a multi-chaptered fic. As a general rule I don't ask for reviews… with the exception of my last chapter. If you feel like it, I'd love to hear what you thought of it and/or the fic as a whole. To everyone who has read my fic, THANK YOU! To everyone who has left me reviews in the past, THANK YOU! To everyone who I've shared some great PM conversations, THANK YOU! To Maryam, my former great reader and friend, SUCK IT!


	11. Chapter 11

Hello! I felt the need to give this fic a little epilogue before I set the complete title on it. It's not long. It's just a little send off. Here we go…

Chuck shifted nervously on the limo seat and he glanced over at Blair every now and then. She ignored him as she scanned messages off her Blackberry. She had a lot to do. They were getting married in the morning. As she finished double checking and then triple checking that everything was on track for their lavish ceremony and reception the next day, she set her phone in her purse with a sigh.

She could feel Chuck's agitation radiating off of him but she ignored it and slid closer to him. Blair tucked herself close to his side and nuzzled into his chest. It was like trying to cuddle with a slab of marble and still she ignored his little snit.

They had just come from a large and perfectly pulled off rehearsal dinner and while Chuck had been the perfect husband all night, her fiancé was acting a little jittery which he proved as he implored her.

"You do know… that even if you don't show up, we're still legally married… right, Mrs. Bass?"

"Hmm…" She sighed not looking up but snuggling closer into his chest.

Okay, so now she really was just trying to agitate him. She knew exactly what was bothering him and she was egging him on, partially because she didn't want to talk about it and partially because she sometimes loved holding out on him. It had been six months since her surgery and it had been a long haul. She had cut her course load for winter session to focus on two things… okay three things, because Chuck was always in the mix. The other two were her physiotherapy and planning the lavish dream wedding Chuck had promised her. Unfortunately for him the two had become linked.

Early in the planning stages Blair had vowed that she wouldn't walk down the aisle if she couldn't walk. At first Chuck had been glad that she had a goal since he figured that it would help her motivation during rough physio sessions, and to a large extent he'd been right. However, Blair's recovery had been harder than either of them had anticipated and had been fraught with set backs along the way. Yes, she was improving, but it was taking a great deal of work, pain and determination to get there. She hadn't needed the wheelchair in months, but there were bad days when she still required the walker, and she had yet to manage more then six steps without her cane. The aisle was half the length of a football field.

He knew Blair well. This wedding came straight out of her scrapbook, and both Dorota and he had ensured that it was executed to the letter. Blair walking down the aisle with a cane was not part of the imagery. Over the past couple of weeks, as the clock had ticked down, Chuck had grown increasingly nervous that she would call the whole thing off… or just not show up.

"Blair." Chuck insisted.

"Yes, yes. Ring on finger. Consummated. All that jazz. Can you just shut up and hold me now?"

Obligingly Chuck slipped an arm around her and pressed a kiss into her hair. Blair sighed contentedly and slipped her hand into his.

"You know it doesn't matter…"

She looked up at him with a quirked brow. "What doesn't matter?"

"The cane." He said bluntly, cutting to the case. "You'll look beautiful with or without it."

Blair sighed again, this time with frustration. "I don't want to talk about this."

She was saved by their limo pulling up outside her mother's penthouse. Blair was following the "not seeing each other before the wedding rule" and was staying at her mother's, much to Chuck's chagrin. If they were alone together he could be much more persuasive. Cyrus had been waiting for them, chatting with the doorman, and now that he had spotted them he was practically skipping over.

"Blair…" Chuck implored.

"You just worry about you tomorrow, Bass." Was all she said before Cyrus had opened the limo door and was helping her out of the car.

Chuck watched her walk away, she was heavily leaning on Cyrus even with the use of her cane, and that was usually a sigh that she was in pain. His gut twisted, hating that she was hurting and hating that a stupid thing like a cane might keep her from their wedding. He was extremely grateful that they were already married.

The next day, Chuck felt like how an unemployed person must feel going into a bank to ask for a loan. Lily walked him down the aisle and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek before taking her seat next to Rufus in the front pew. As he stood at the alter of the massive church he thought he was going to throw up. Nate punching him in the shoulder didn't help. It also didn't help that Blair had made him have Dan, as his stepbrother, as one of his groomsmen, and he avoided the other man's gaze as Dan stood next to Eric.

It seemed to hot in the large classic stone building, and as the time moved slowly it seemed more and more likely that the stain glass angels were looking down on him in mockery. His angel wasn't going to show up. He vowed then and there that after he hunted her down he was going to spank her for this stress and humiliation.

Even as the music started he didn't feel at ease. He watched as an array of Blair's best minions walked down the aisle, with Serena bringing up the rear. He searched her face for any sign of stress but she just smiled him in that Serena way that made her look like she'd just swallowed kittens and sunshine.

Next came Ramon and Cyrus and still Chuck felt no better. He did however make a mental note of Cyrus jauntily walking down the aisle and waving at friends and family as he went. He distinctly remembered Blair instructing everyone, both verbally and in print, that waving was strictly forbidden. It was tacky.

Finally, when he didn't think he could take any more… the double doors at the end of the aisle were thrown wide and there she was. His bride. His wife. His Blair. His. His. His.

For a moment she just stood, backlit by sunshine in the entryway. She was clad in an Eleanor Waldorf original, and it looked as if the talented designer had been planning this dress since her daughter had been born. It was the perfect reflection of Blair Waldorf. No other could have worn it. No other could have looked as perfect in it. She stood there for several moments and let people take her in. More specifically, she stood there for Chuck. She was beautiful. She was everything he ever wanted and everything he never knew he wanted. Chuck Bass felt tears flood his eyes.

Harold came up to stand beside her and she took his arm as her mother stood at her other side and Blair slipped her arm in there. As they escorted her down the aisle Chuck couldn't take his eyes off her, nor she off him. It was the closest either of them had ever come to grinning like fools. When trio reached the end of the pews, her mother kissed her cheek and then her father did the same with a whispered. "My little Blair-bear…"

She now stood alone in the aisle and there were still a couple of metres to go to reach the alter. It was then that Chuck realized it. She wasn't using her cane. He was just about to rush to her so she wouldn't be embarrassed stumbling in front of 350 people, when she stepped forward with serene confidence. She walked to him with a knowing smile of satisfaction on her face. Chuck was so proud of her one tear slipped past his defenses.

"Chuck Bass, are you crying?" She gently teased as she reached him.

"Of course not." He tried to sound gruff as he dashed the single tear away, but he was too happy to truly pull it off.

"You walked." He stated the obvious.

"I wanted to surprise you."

"You always do."

"I love you."

"I know." She smiled truly happy. "I love you too."

TahDAH! The end! Hope you liked it. Like I said, I felt this story needed a proper send off and I like this one. It's sappy and I'm in a sappy mood! I'm on vacation, what else can I say? And… I'm usually more chatty in my author's notes, but I'm late for lunch! Hope you enjoyed this! Chair forever!


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